Consumer safety is a shared responsibility. For the consumer, this means not getting hurt while using or eating a product. For authorities, this generally means regulating standards and monitoring compliance with these standards as well as ensuring the safety of products entering or being available on the market, and taking corrective actions when and where necessary. For manufacturers, consumer safety means ensuring that their products are safe by providing information about potential risks, monitoring product safety, identifying potential dangers and developing prevention strategies to reduce the risks, and taking action, such as a recall, if a safety concern is identified.

There are five key elements recognized as essential for ensuring consumer safety: ensuring traceability throughout the chain, optimizing preparation for recalls, combating counterfeiting, providing appropriate labeling and ensuring compliance with regulations and safety standards. security.

Traceability is fundamental to ensure the safety of consumers. The company must comply with regulatory requirements, fight against counterfeiting and manage recalls. The use of interoperable global data standards such as GS1 and ISO 10393 on product recall can ensure that relevant information is provided in a common format that can be easily understood and shared by all parties. Global data standards encompass various measures of traceability, data sharing and identification, including the identification of products, transactions and each actor in the supply chain. It allows the product feed to be accompanied by the product data feed, with product identification and data sharing done in a standardized way.

A constant and recurring problem facing local commerce is the proliferation of counterfeit products. This problem extends to e-commerce and is generally unregulated. E-commerce has become a paradise for counterfeit products. Since there is no discernible method of tracing products, it is easy for counterfeit products to pass off as original or genuine, especially to unsuspecting consumers. This practice has resulted in a loss of revenue for the government since no tax can be levied on these online transactions.

In addition, it also raises questions about consumer safety as the circulation of counterfeit products without traceability of sources will lead to a feeling of insecurity and uncertainty about the products they are purchasing.

We must ensure that only duly registered sellers will be allowed to sell online and require that each seller, third-party logistics or delivery service provider, consumer products and services and transactions be uniquely identified using global standards will allow a efficient process of recalling and replacing products if necessary. It will also allow government agencies to track and trace all those responsible for faulty, damaged or counterfeit products. By implementing and using global standards, the commerce industry will have the ability to accurately locate and trace all products, vendors, delivery service providers and customers involved in any transaction.

In the food sector, with an established traceability system, there would be an effective product recall process in the event of food contamination that could extend from source to consumers. This would help businesses, regulators and government tackle major food safety issues, such as African swine flu, mad cow disease, and avian flu. Traceability is at the heart of food safety, with the use of global product standards, government and other regulatory bodies, as well as businesses, can track and trace the food we consume, from farm to farm. fork and share specific product information that everyone can rely on, including the consumer.

On the other hand, there should be a product recall program and policy for hazardous products. In this regard, another global standard, ISO 10393 on product recall, was adopted by the Philippine Standards Bureau of the Ministry of Trade and Industry as the Philippine national standard in March 2018 through the technical committee. n ° 81, which was then chaired by your writer in his capacity as president of Laban Konsyumer Inc.

Product recalls include refund, upgrade, repair, replacement, disposal with public notification. International standards allow suppliers to implement a recall program caused by dangerous goods in the marketplace, including digital commerce.

Finally, the Philippines proposed revising the mandatory product safety certification system under the Consumer Act as well as the Product Standards Act into one. National quality infrastructure or NQI. The INQ will demand compliance with security standards by the corporate sector as part of a voluntary program accompanied by strict market surveillance and enforcement.

The National quality infrastructure, global data standards with unique safe product traceability and a product recall program, support consumer protection, including in digital commerce.

Atty. Vic Dimagiba

President of Laban Konsyumer Inc.

Email to [email protected]